Obama Administration Calls on Egyptian Military to Release Ex-Muslim Brotherhood President Morsi

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Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi gestures while speaking during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. Credit: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is joining Germany in calling for the release of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki (SAH’-kee) says the United States agrees with the German Foreign Ministry, which on Friday called for a – quote – “end to all restrictive measures considering Morsi.”

Morsi was ousted on July 3 by the military following a wave of protests calling on him to step down. The Islamist leader has been kept at an undisclosed Defense Ministry facility since then, but no formal charges have been filed.

Psaki did not elaborate on why the U.S. is calling for his release. She noted that the U.S. has expressed concerns all along about politically motivated, arbitrary arrests of members of the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails.